Tina’s anger over house of horrors

Tina Anthony

A Daventry woman has been left angry with a housing association for the poor quality of work they have carried out on her property.

Tina Anthony, who lives in Frobisher Close in Daventry, suffered a house fire in 2008 leaving her with no possessions. However her dispute with Daventry and District Housing (DDH) is still on-going and she has criticised the ‘shoddy’ work which she says has left her and her family insecure in their own home.

The stress caused by the poor repairs has led to her being put on medication.

Mrs Anthony said: “During the recent windy weather we have had, I could hear the roof coming away from the house. My daughter came into my room because she was so scared.

“There are holes in the roof which is letting a lot of water into the house. We are starting to get mould in the house too.

“There are numerous holes and cracks in the walls which have been left by DDH since they repaired parts of the house.

“I have even seen nails left hanging out of the walls.

“I could also smell sewage. I was told by an engineer that the pipes had been laid so they were not connecting so we have got raw sewage sitting underneath the house. You can smell it when you are having a Sunday dinner and when you are trying to sleep.”

She is angry with the housing association who she says have been efficient in their rent collections despite not carrying out the repairs and complaining numerous times.

Mrs Anthony said: “Every time I have been even slightly late with rent payments, they have been on me quickly, chasing the payments.

“Yet when I ask them to do something to improve the house, it takes them a long time to do it.

“I am left fearing for mine and my children’s safety.”

DDH say the problems have not been reported to their officers.

Jonathan Hern, asset operations manager at DDH, said: “Extensive repairs were made to Mrs Anthony’s house after a fire in 2008. Since then, whenever she has made us aware of an issue we have worked to address it. Mrs Anthony’s last request for work was in November 2013.

“Since then we have had no contact with her for repairs and as such were not aware of any issues relating to a sewage smell or a roof.

“We would be happy to speak to Mrs Anthony to see if we can help her to address them.”